Zach Hill is a bastard. His futuro-eclectic rain on fire drumming antics over the past decade on 50 and counting full-lengths and numerous EPs have solidified high praise to both wide-eyed percussive fanatics and studied sound-scholars. His current project Hella (currently only two members strong after multiple lineup shifts) is a haven for noise-bred experimentalism. Some would shout 'Math Rock', but Hella's latest would be an ape-shit gorilla on tranquilizers if it were chained to such links as structure, principle, and law. Therefore, no gorillas were shot in the making of Tripper.
Right off the bat, the album throws you into its claustrophobic chamber; letting no time pass as the rumbling of Hill's percussive taunts fill your ears. His hyperactive drumming is the meat on the bones, but Spencer Seim's left-field guitar frenzy is the marinade and spices that keep the game filling and flavorful every time it's slapped on the plate. Halfway through the album there is consequence from the constant noise, as "Netgear" slowly spirals into an overheated warp of collected noise; strung out to a pulsating vibration. Through techniques like that, Hella play off each other in a dizzying set that, once finished, feels like a mass of repetitively broken discord, unless appropriately given time to reveal its rewarding submissive complexities.
Tripper is the kind of record that can potentially unite an assorted amount of fans. Metal heads could appreciate its heavy distortions and collapsing technique, electronic fans its eclectic sonics, jazz devotes its attentive percussion, and avant-gardists could be taken aback by its oddball mix of varied sounds. Although it could just as easily turn people off, as any free-thinking record should. Ultimately Tripper is the sound of turbulent grindcore, alternatively tuned guitars, and sweltering-beneath-the-surface hard rock; finally pay John Zorn to wave a baton around, and prepare to enter the flailing madness of a two-man juggernaut.
[Hella Bandcamp]
[Stream/Buy Tripper from Sargent House]
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